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It appears Northern Kentucky counties are moving closer to developing plans to help curb the heroin crisis and address other drug issues.

Kenton, Boone and Campbell counties are working on a plan to create a Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy with two employees who would study and advise on how the counties can, and should, help with drug issues including heroin.

"They will evaluate and make recommendations on what we need to do," said Kenton County Judge-executive Kris Knochelmann. "We've had lots of information. Now it's time for action."

Kenton County Fiscal Court on Tuesday evening approved a $40,000 allocation of funds, with an anticipated $40,000 match from Boone County, plus an undetermined amount of money and office space from Campbell County toward the drug control office.

While the county has not yet committed to a specific way to spend the money, Boone has proposed $40,000 or more in its upcoming budget, effective July 1, toward fighting heroin. "The NKY Office of Drug Control Policy would fit that criteria," said Matthew Webster, spokesman for Boone County Fiscal Court.

Judge-executive Gary Moore made no promises Tuesday about the county providing a $40,000 match for the new office, but he said Boone County is in favor of working with other area governments on the heroin crisis.

"The heroin epidemic continues to grip the Northern Kentucky region with devastating impact on our communities," Moore said. "Boone County will continue to partner with our cities and neighboring counties to provide resources toward a meaningful response."

Knochelmann said the counties also plan to look for other funding sources for the office's work. He is confident it will become a reality and expects the office to open July 1 in Campbell County government offices.

Kenton County has an outline for the office and made that public Tuesday.

Among priorities of the staff, a director and assistant, is to assess substance abuse treatment programs at the jails and recommend the best evidence-based medication-assisted treatment. That's a switch, because jails in Northern Kentucky don't have treatment programs, although Campbell and Kenton counties are working toward creating them. In addition, the region's courts have traditionally espoused abstinence-based programs, rather than including medicine to help heroin or prescription painkiller addicts.

Other initial goals outlined for the office include developing programs that would help mobilize churches, schools and community programs to help people suffering from addiction. The counties want to learn what they can do to support newborns with addicted mothers and establish a hotline or ombudsman services for families who learn a loved one has an addiction.

The director and deputy would represent the counties at the Northern Kentucky Heroin Impact Response Task Force meetings. The diverse group of stakeholders that started in 2012 has been coordinating heroin response ever since. The HIRT, as it's now known, has researched heroin impact on the region and recommended strategies to reduce the demand for heroin by providing treatment and has advocated for legislation to help curb the crisis.

Bonnie Hedrick, NKY Prevention Alliance and member of the Coordinating Council of HIRT, said a drug control office would be helpful in stabilizing the crisis.

"Without question, the heroin epidemic and our community's response to it has illuminated the need for an organized community infrastructure to serve as a 'watchdog' of sorts on drug trends, issues and prevention and treatment services," Hedrick said. "Paid staff within a Northern Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy will be in a position to identify alarming trends and to organize effective action to circumvent a tidal wave as we have seen with the heroin epidemic."

Jim Thaxton, HIRT coordinator, said he welcomes such an office. "It's going to provide good work that is necessary that nobody's doing now," he said.

The drug control policy office would be charged with advocating for policies to reduce substance use disorders as well as analyzing federal, state and local drug abuse policies and providing the findings to the counties.

The director and deputy director would be asked to make recommendations to fiscal courts on their best investment of taxpayer funds, according to the plan.

The two would be employed by the Northern Kentucky Area Development District, with Kenton County's share of funding coming from a special projects account.